Kingdom Ed: Remix!
by BNVshark
Summary: A meteor shower, a mysterious woman, a weird key. And now the Eds and Nazz are being hounded by mysterious, bloodthirsty creatures called Heartless. "What happened to our home? Traverse Town? Where's that?"
1. Chapter 1

**Author's** **Note:** Hey guys, long time no see. As much as it'll probably kill you guys, I'm here to announce that I'm redoing Kingdom Ed. Before you all blast me with hate mail, know that I literally started the original one when I didn't even know how commas were used. I was in 9th grade back then, and I'm a college freshman now, so...

Before we start, I want to tell you that there's going to be a BUNCH of changes here. Trust me, it'll be like a brand new tale. Without ado, let us begin!

* * *

It was peculiar, Edd thought as he readjusted his telescope while simultaneously typing keys furiously on his laptop. No one saw the meteor storm coming, but that didn't stop it from being one of the most spectacular light shows he had ever seen. He didn't even know that shooting stars could be green and pink. He had to let out a dazzled 'oh' as he saw another bright light fall. Some of those stars were colors he had never even imagined.

To the right, he heard Ed nailing a sign to Eddy's worn wooden stand. He was selling the stars that he caught. And by that, he meant he was really selling the pieces of coal he managed to snag off of Nazz's grill just a few minutes prior. Edd let out a sigh of dismay as Jonny and Jimmy, who pulled a disgruntled Sarah along, brought out a fistful of quarters to buy the 'stars.'

"Better be careful with that one," Eddy shouted out as he ordered Ed to grab a still burning lump of coal with a pair of tongs. "That one's fresh."

Jimmy was gleeful, until the red hot coal was placed into his hands, which then resulted in him screaming 'owie' and running back home for 'gauze, ointment and marmalade."

Edd, or Double D, as he was called by his friends, continued looking through the telescope and typing, even after everyone else had gone to bed. It wasn't until 5 o' clock when the streaks of light stopped appearing, but Double D suspected that it had more to do with the rising sun blotting them out. He looked forward to looking over his notes as soon as school was over, but even more than that, he wanted to see if the meteor storm continued by next nightfall. Still, he realized as he let out a hearty yawn, he would need to get some sleep. As much as he hated to say it, his homeroom teacher was a jerk, and being tardy for class would mean trouble, even on the last day of school.

He packed up his belongings and started to head inside. In the corner of his eye, however, he thought he saw someone. With a quick turn, he realized that his eyes weren't deceiving him. There was, in fact, a slender figure still staring upwards. He was too tired, however, and let out a yawn as he waved to the person and shut the door to his house. Must've been a new neighbor, he thought as he made his way upstairs and into his bed. Perhaps the new family had kids who, hopefully wouldn't be taken aback by any of his friends' tendencies. Either way, he thought, shutting his eyes, he'd greet them after school as well.

* * *

*twinkle*

* * *

Eddy's head couldn't hit his desk any harder. Having a full day of school, on the last day, was incredibly pointless. Maybe, he thought, if he kept knocking his head against the hard material of the desk, he'd knock himself out and wake up back home. No, that wouldn't work.

He looked at Ed, who was currently busy playing with his earlobes. Boy, he looked pretty pleased with himself too. Eddy, on some level, envied Ed's simplistic way of life. It'd be pretty damn great if he could entertain himself by playing with his earlobes, of all things. Next, he looked at Nazz, who sat back in a corner along with Rolf and Kevin. Nazz was playing with her phone while simultaneously telling gossip about some girl on her cheerleading team. Rolf was eyeing her phone curiously, asking how there could possibly be so many zombies and pea shooting plants in the realm her phone led to. Kevin was chilling on Nazz's desk, obviously flexing, though the girl didn't seem to notice.

None of the other kids in class were doing anything interesting either. A bunch his classmates he hadn't bothered to learn the names of were chatting, as were another group of no names. He couldn't blame Double D for dozing off while still upright in his seat, the class was a snoozefest.

The door suddenly slammed open, and their teacher, a husky, balding British man walked on through. "Yes, sorry I'm late. I had a bit of a rough night out." He set down his briefcase and, without looking up said, "Oh Nazz, put that phone away. 1 day. Detention."

Eddy heard Nazz grumble. It wasn't a joke. Their teacher was the same guy who ripped on Eddy for having his shirt slightly wrinkled and gave him 2 days detention for it. Really, Eddy couldn't think of anyone else who lived off other people being miserable as much as his teacher did. Well, besides his own brother, but that was a different story for a different time.

"As you'll remember, I assigned you a one page paper on what you learned from my History class. I trust you all have it completed. You know what'll happen if you don't." He meant detention, of course. Giving every student ever a detention was kind of his thing. In fact, Double D was one of the only students left who hadn't gotten a pink, handwritten note from the guy. That didn't mean he liked his friend, or anything, in fact, he especially had it out for the boy.

The teacher practically snatched each paper from the hands of each of his students and took a brief look before crumpling them and throwing them behind his back. He stopped once he got to Double D, who was still fairly dazed. Sockhead was literally outside looking at the sky all night, no wonder he was so zoned out.

"Excuse me," the teacher said a little too roughly. "My paper?"

Eddy had always found the teacher to be annoying. It didn't matter what a student did, it was never good enough, or nice enough for his liking. He had absolutely no right to be impatient with Sockhead. Him or Ed, maybe, given that he was intentionally antagonistic to the man while Ed was just stuck in his own world the entire time. But Double D never did anything to tick off the old man.

"I… I'm sorry." Double D dumped the contents of his satchel on his desk in shock. "I… I… I wrote my paper, I swear. Ed, and Eddy's are with me too. If you would allow, could I call my p-parents. I promise, they'll get it a-and…"

Their teacher's face lit up like a Christmas tree. Eddy noticed the look in his eyes, like he had just caught his long awaited prey. "No, it's late. Detention for you, and…" His eyes shifted to Eddy and Ed, who was stilling playing with his earlobes. "You two, as well.

Great, he could have the whole set of Eds, Eddy thought as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. _Just like he always wanted._

The day dragged on, everyone, minus the four that had gotten detention, quickly left the campus. Currently, they were outside, sitting on the stairs that led to the entrance of their middle school. Eddy laughed, at least they wouldn't have to come back here again. They'd be in high school come fall.

"So…" Nazz had her hands in her pockets. She didn't dare pull out her phone, not while there was a chance that their teacher could jump out and award more detentions. "I haven't, like, talked to any of you since last quarter. How've things been?"

Had she tried talking to him a year ago, Eddy would've choked up. He had gotten over his crush on her, like, forever ago. "It's whatever," he said with a shrug.

Double D and Ed were different. Already, he could see Ed sweating bullets, his tongue literally tied into a knot. How'd he do that?

Double D could be seen constantly shifting from feelings of utter delight that the prettiest girl in school was talking to him, to _terror_ that the prettiest girl in school was talking to him, to showing that huge wave of exhaustion that threatened to swallow him any second. He muttered something that sounded a bit like "Uh, a ki… uh… huh…"

"That's cool," Nazz redirected her attention to Eddy, who mentally screamed. Of course he had to be the only one capable of talking right now. "What're you doing over the summer?"

"Not much," he said with a grin (as if he really cared.). "Just scamming, living, thriving."

She let out a chuckle, but Eddy felt like she only did that out of courtesy for his joke. She probably really didn't care. "I'm going on a cruise with my dad in a few days. It's going to be so rad. I hear there's a huge slide _on_ the boat!"

She probably would've gone on longer if the teacher didn't burst out from the doors. "Children, I want you all to meet me at the Peach Creek Library in…" he stopped to check his watch, "Fifteen minutes."

Everyone, even Ed, let out a questioning remark. How could they get there in 15 minutes? It was a 20 bike ride to get there, and none of them had their bikes. And the bus was 10 minutes away from the school, and even if they caught it, they still wouldn't get there on time.

Ed was the first to speak. "Oh, are you going to take us there in your car?" He pointed to the burgundy sedan that sat in a parking space only a few meters up. It was old and rusty, but it still looked like it had more than enough room to carry four thirteen year-olds.

"No, there's no room." The teacher opened the front seat and, after a few tries, managed to turn the engine on. "I'm afraid you'll have to make your way there on your own." The car moved itself down the street but stopped suddenly. "Oh, and you'll need to be there on time, otherwise you'll all get in big trouble." With that, the car sped off, leaving behind a trail of thick black smoke. Deep down, Eddy wished the car would explode, or at least break down.

"It's like that guy doesn't have a life or anything, y'know. It's really not fair that he hands out detentions like that." Nazz made her way to the woods and motioned the others to follow her.

"E-excuse me. Nazz?" It looked like Double D had woken up a bit. "May I ask why we're going this way?" He followed her over the short metal fence that separated the forest outside from the school's soccer field. Eddy and Ed followed.

"Because, we're gonna be late anyway, so we might as well take the fun way there.

Double D gulped. Oh yeah, Eddy forgot, his friend only liked going out into the wilderness when he had proper supplies, like boots, gloves, and sun block. Apparently, it was possible to get sunburn in the deep parts of the woods too.

They continued going through the dense foliage for a while. At one point, Double D asked Nazz where she was leading them, to which she responded, "I dunno, I just feel like going this way."

Eddy didn't care though, and Ed was enjoying himself again, smelling the flowers that he walked by, and even giving a few to Nazz, who tucked them behind her ear.

Thirty minutes had gone by, and Double D was starting to grumble worryingly to himself. "Could we _please_ get back to the road? We're already late, but at this rate, we'll never get there." He let out a sigh when he realized that Nazz had already run off toward a huge pile of rocks that towered above the forest's trees.

"Hey guys!" Her head peeked out from behind a rather dark boulder. She beckoned them to come closer, almost as if she had found something.

After he had gotten close, Eddy could see that the pile of rocks hid a tunnel that gradually sloped downward into the earth. Nazz's hair was being blown back by the cool breeze that blew out. Her eyes opened wider than he had ever seen and, with a gleeful laugh, she charged inside, practically flying down.

Ed let out an equally amused laugh and followed. "Last one there is a rotten egg," his voice echoed.

Double D let out a sigh and wordlessly followed after them.

The whole adventuring thing didn't really interest Eddy, but he would much rather follow his friends inside than stay outside where –he swatted the air in front of his face- those damned flying were trying to eat him up.

His footsteps echoed after he got to the base of the steep, rocky slope. Strangely, he could still see everything clearly, despite the fact that there wasn't any sunlight inside.

"Hey, look at this."

He turned to see Nazz staring inquisitively at a large wooden door seemingly glued to the rocky crevice's wall. Nazz tried turning the knob, to no avail.

"Hey Ed," she called the taller boy over. "Give me a hand."

Nazz grabbed onto the door hinge while Ed began pulling on the doorknob itself. After one final heave on his part, the doorknob flew off and Ed was sent flying backwards.

Somewhere, Eddy thought he heard gentle footsteps walking around, but didn't pay much mind to it. The door, on the other hand, intrigued him. It was inappropriate, yes, but he couldn't help but wonder what was behind it. Maybe it had a huge stash of jawbreakers. He couldn't hide the huge grin that appeared on his face. Curiously, he put his eye to the empty hole for the doorknob and tried to look.

There was nothing except darkness, and an unbelievably cold breeze.

"This is odd," Double D said as he cocked his head to the side. "As far as I know…" he began muttering to himself, "There aren't any underground sewers, pipelines, or subways anywhere near here. And…" he closed his eyes and tapped his feet.

"_**This world…"**_

Everyone took a step back and looked towards the person who had spoken. Whoever it was, he or she was wearing a large raggedy brown cloak that covered their entire body, except for a small part of their chin. They didn't recognize the voice though, but they could tell that it came from an adult woman.

"Excuse me," Double D spoke. "Do you know what this door is do-"

"_**This world is connected…"**_

"Pardon?"

"_**Tied… This world… is tied…"**_

Eddy didn't know how to respond to that. Neither did any of the others, apparently. They all just stared on, confused.

Small drops of water dripped down from the person's chin.

"Hey," Nazz said. "Are you alright?"

The hooded woman didn't answer, instead, she brought her right sleeve up. Then, she stood perfectly still, and the Eds all looked at each other questioningly.

Suddenly, dark purple beams of energy shot out, and all three of them were sent flying backwards. Nazz was the only one who managed to dodge the attack and she already had her arms up, in a fighting stance.

Eddy checked the area on his chest that had gotten hit. His shirt was still intact, and he wasn't bleeding, but he still felt a searing pain.

He could see that Nazz was currently busy trying to land blows, both from her fists and feet, to the figure, but whoever was wearing the cloak had amazing dexterity. It seemed like the person was just gliding past almost attack while blocking the others.

The figure raised her left hand upward. In an instantly purple lightning struck down from the ceiling, destroying the floor, which shattered from the impact, and striking Nazz, who screamed as the energy shot through her body.

Almost as quickly as it appeared, the lightning dissipated into nothingness, and Nazz fell face first onto the floor without another word.

"_**This world… This world is at its end…"**_

Eddy swore he heard the door from behind him creak open. Almost as soon as it did, streaks of inky blackness began to cover the room. And then it began to blot over Double D, then Ed, then Nazz. And then he felt like he, himself, had disappeared from all of reality entirely.

Now he was cold.

* * *

**Get ready for a brand new ride:** The following lines have spoilers for the original Kingdom Ed. Here, I'm going to post just a few of the changes and events I'll be implementing in 'Remix.'

**-It looks like all three of the Eds have completely different weapons now.**

**-Princess Jasmine is joining the crew earlier? She has more plot significance too?**

**- And Belle's showing up as well.**

**- They'll witness the destruction of a world, firsthand. And a noble sacrifice too.**

**- And a trip to the Underworld? Why would Nazz want to go there?**


	2. Traverse Town

**Chapter 2: Traverse Town**

Nazz was breathless and bewildered. She didn't know how she had gone from inside a cave in Peach Creek to a neon-lit cobblestone paved town. Then there were those things jumping around in front of her.

There were two types of those yellow-eyed monsters attacking her. One was completely black with scraggly antennae wiggling around. She didn't know how they did it, but they were able to melt into the ground to lunge at her from below. That was how she got that deep, bloody gash on her side.

The other kinds were just a bit shorter then her. Their faces were the same shade of black as the ant-like monsters, and they had the same glowing yellow eyes, but they wore flimsy tin helmets on their heads, and attacked a bit differently. They had sharp red claws, and Nazz had to be mindful not to get hit by those.

In the corner of her eye, she managed to see the soldier monster flying through the air. She dashed to her left just in time to dodge it, but didn't see the monster attacking her from behind.

The creature's foot practically rolled into her left side and she fell down to the floor. She picked her head up just in time to see three more of the monsters clumsily running towards her. One of them lunged forward, flipping acrobatically through the air. She didn't know how, but she managed to grab onto the creature's leg, mid-attack. She didn't stop to think about how weightless the thing felt. Instead, she held onto the thrashing monster as tight as she could and swung it at the others, using it as a makeshift bat. The first two ant-type monsters disappeared in a blast of black smoke with a single hit. The helmeted ones were sturdier, however. They were simply sent flying away from the impact. After another hit, the monster she was holding exploded into similar black smoke. This time, a pink blur flew out of it, into the sky, but she didn't have time to actually see what it was.

The other monsters slowly backed away. Maybe they saw that Nazz was too tough a target, or maybe they were scared at the apparent death of their ally. They somersaulted into the air and faded into the black sky.

Nazz kept her guard up for a moment. If it was one thing her karate class had taught her, it was to keep her guard up and stay aware of her surroundings, even when it seemed like everything was clear. Back then, her teacher taught her to imagine her own bodily energy and send it outwards. She didn't know how, exactly, but it seemed to work. That was how she managed to tell when people were getting close to her hiding spot back when the old neighborhood played hide and seek.

There was a glint on her internal radar all of a sudden. In a cold sweat, she snapped back and looked to her left. There was set of stairs, and a catwalk leading from there to the end of the street, which ended in a large, rustic-looking door. Almost as soon as she reached the top step, she heard a blood curdling scream. Far away, she saw a man tremble backwards. Another one of those monsters was standing in front of him, with a familiar faint pink light in its grasp. The pink light shattered before Nazz could get better look, and both the monster and the trembling man disappeared.

Looking a little further, she saw a boy, maybe a little older than himself. He had witnessed the event, and looked positively horrified. Suddenly, more of the same monsters that had attacked her earlier jumped out of dark portals. The boy whipped out a giant, key shaped, weapon from a holster tied to his back and immediately went to work swinging away the monsters like he had done it a thousand times before.

Though she was still tired, Nazz immediately made a beeline for the boy to help him out. If it was one thing she hated, it was watching other people struggle while others did nothing. She jumped into the air as high as she could, knocking away one of the helmeted monsters and keeping it from slicing the boy right in half.

"Thanks," the boy said, mid-swing.

Nazz found that they fought well together. She was quick enough on her feet to knock away any of the monsters that would hit the boy, while he was strong enough that three or four hits from his odd weapon would destroy them.

There was one left, and Nazz couldn't help but feel like ending it as flashily as she could. She ran straight towards the monster recklessly, and striked it right on its chin with a kick from below, sending it flying high into the air. The boy got the memo and jumped. With a single swing, he knocked it down, where it disappeared as soon as it hit the hard ground.

"Yeah, nice one!" Without a second to even think about it, they exchanged a high five. "I'm Nazz."

"Sora," the boy responded as he tied his weapon to his back. He wiped the sweat from his brow before opening his mout to speak again. "You haven't seen my friends anywhere, have you? There's Kairi. She's a redhead, with short hair that kinda goes like… this!" He put his hands flat against his shoulders and made an odd motion with his hands.

Nazz wasn't particularly sure what gestures Sora was making or how they were supposed to correspond to his friend's hair style, but she smiled and nodded, nonetheless. She understood what it was like to lose your friends. Though, when she thought about it as Sora went to work describing another friend of his, named Riku, Nazz couldn't help but wonder. Were the Eds actually her friends? She remembered having an on-off friendship with them just a few summers ago. She felt bad for them. It was always those three, all by themselves. She tried to make them less spastic around the other kids, she really did. To the chagrin of Kevin and the others, she always made sure she invited the three boys to any party or barbeque her father started. But after a few years, she too started distancing herself away from them. That time they spent with each other as they walked through the woods might've been the first time she even made eye contact with them in months.

"So you're looking for _your_ friends too, right?"

Nazz was knocked out of her trance.

"Oh, yeah. Uh…" She went to work describing the boys to him, using the most explicit detail to describe them. She still almost stuttered every time she had to call them friends though. 'Acquaintances' just didn't have the same ring to it.

"Alright, let's work together then."

They exchanged a hearty handshake before turning towards the neon-lit streets. Nazz had to ask, where were they? It couldn't have been close to Peach Creek. There weren't any big cities like this for miles and miles.

"Traverse Town," Sora said, answering her question. "There was a lady back there who told me that. I've never heard of a place called Peach Creek though. Is that anywhere close to Destiny Islands?"

It couldn't have been. Peach Creek was virtually landlocked. How could they have gone so far from their homes in such little time?

There was a huge blip on her internal radar coming from above. A pink dragon-like monster came and swooped up Sora right from where he was standing. Three large, round monsters sporting bright yellow eyes and odd heart-shaped insignias popped out of dark clouds surrounding her. The one behind her was smart, it seemed, and instantly grabbed hold of her arm. The one to her right landed a solid blow from its right arm to her body, sending her flying towards a building's brick wall.

Her vision was hazy as she stumbled back up, rubbing her head. That dragon monster was too high now, and Sora's desperate struggle against the creature's grip seemed to not have any effect. She suddenly made a beeline in the dragon's direction, thought she only made it a few yards before something with the force of a wrecking ball attacked her from behind.

She skidded along the ground, tearing up her jeans and taking huge damage. Nazz had to let out a gasp as she saw her arms and legs bleeding more than they had in her life. The ground she had slid against was smeared with her blood.

She rolled away just in time to avoid being crushed to death by another one of the monsters, but wasn't quick enough to dodge the next arm swing from the second monster. She crashed through one of the store's doors, but managed to stumble her way back up.

If she tried running away again, those things would just tackle her, and she was afraid that taking another hit like that would kill her. She would have to fight back.

There was very little room for error, she knew. Those things' punches could easily break through solid concrete. Nazz was surprised she hadn't broken a bone yet. With a sudden lunge, she dashed towards the monster closest to her. She landed a solid kick to the thing's chest, though it didn't seem to do much damage. In fact, the monster seemed to scratch its head in confusion, as if it couldn't contemplate why the girl had done that. She landed another swift combo of punches before jumping back. That thing's chest was like a drum, and her strikes weren't doing the damage she'd need to take it down.

She weaved her way through the other two monsters' incoming attacks. She would need to try something different now. Her old karate instructor had told her one important piece of advice. If faced with an opponent larger than herself, aim for the head. It didn't matter how much muscle someone had, their head would still be skin and bone. She leaped up, landing an almost delicious kick from her heel to the top of the thing's head.

CRITICAL HIT!

The Large Body, the name she had decided for the race of enemy she was fighting, instantly exploded. A pink blur escaped out of the mess of smoke, though, like last time, she didn't have time to see what it was.

The other two looked angry, and both started charging towards her. Nazz wasn't sure if she could take on both of them at once, but she knew she would have to stay and fight. She shifted her legs, prepared to dodge the attack, but something happened. The Large Body on the right suddenly stopped its movements. It had been hit, but by what? A large metal star shot down from above, severing the thing's head and killing it instantly. A girl who couldn't have been much older than her jumped down, picking up the ninja star, and several other knives before strapping them all to her back. She let out a hearty smile before looking at the other monster. The second one was stopped by a single man with a large sword. Murky black smoke was leaking out of the monster's chest. The man had stabbed it.

"Disappear," he said as he pulled a trigger attached to his sword's handle. The monster exploded in a huge, fiery explosion, and the man nonchalantly put the sword against his shoulder before looking back at the other girl.

"Yuffie," he simply said, motioning towards Nazz's direction with his head.

"Oh yeah!" She too turned around to look at the girl.

Nazz was terrified. Who were those people? She defensively put her arms up, prepared to run away the second they made a move. Somehow, their sheer presence made her aware of one simple fact.

If she fought them, she would be killed.


	3. The Traverse Town Protection Agency

**Author's Note****: **_Welcome back. In case you're a veteran reader who's gone through the original Kingdom Ed fanfic, I'll remind you that I'm changing a metric ton of stuff in this. This current arc (Let's call it the TTPA arc, just to keep it short) won't follow Traverse Town's plot for a while. All of this will be brand new material with better pacing, characterization, and fighting. Now, I threw in a (huge) hint back in chapter 2 for a crossover arc I'm going to add in later. I'm challenging you guys to find it and determine what the series getting added into this story is. Submit the answers via PM only. The first winner will get... A printed out copy of this fic mailed to them, I guess. Or not. I'm trying to think of a good prize. Who in their right mind would want a copy of a _fanfic?

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Traverse Town Protection Agency**

Nazz couldn't register anything as she got up. There was a blurry blob of light somewhere in her field of view, though no matter how much she blinked, her eyes wouldn't focus.

"… -wake. Squall, _Squall_, she's awake!"

Nazz could hear two sets of footsteps heading her way. She wanted to turn her head to see, but somehow felt like something impossibly heavy was holding her head down. A blurry figure with black hair looked down on her and waved its hand.

"Squall, I think she really hit her head hard when she passed out back there."

The other person stood quiet for a moment before annoyingly replying, "Leon. My name is Leon."

"Fine, whatever," the other voice let out with a sigh. "Should I give her another ether?"

Nazz was confused. Who were those people? What where they going to give her? An ether? Were they poisoning her? She wanted to scream. She didn't know where she was and who those people were. All she wanted was to go back home. What about her father? How long had she been missing? Was he worried about her?

Nazz let out a soft mumble, apparently getting the attention of the other two.

"See, I told you," the girl exclaimed. Nazz heard the sound of glass clinking against something, and then the sound of a liquid being poured. Before she could gain the energy to shout, she felt something like a cup press against her lips, then she felt a liquid slowly being poured down her throat.

Almost instantly, her eyesight cleared up. It still wasn't perfect, but it was definitely better than the blurry mess she had dealt with just a moment ago. She jumped up, putting her arms in front of her face in case the other two figured suddenly attacked.

"Whoa there, calm down." The man who had impaled the Large Body heartless earlier slowly walked towards her. He had long hair that messily fell to his shoulders. Nazz took special notice that his sword was all the way in the corner of the room.

Okay, so it looked like he wasn't trying to kill or threaten her.

"W-who are you," was all that Nazz managed to choke out. Even if _he_ didn't have that sword, that other girl next to him could still have her weapons on her. Nazz tried to look as confident as possible. She didn't want any of those two thinking that they could push her around.

"I'm Leon."

"Yuffie," the other girl cheerfully sang out. She put her hands on her hips and smiled from ear to ear. She brought a hand out, to shake, and Nazz couldn't help but bring out a slight smile as they made contact. That girl didn't look much older than her, and she had an air about her that made it seem like she would get along _smashingly_ with Eddy. In fact, she looked _more_ mischievous than him.

"Are you alright?" The man, Leon, tenderly put his hand on her shoulder. Nazz hadn't noticed it before, but he had a scar running diagonally down his face. Nazz's father had a scar too, as she recalled, though he got his from a work accident. Nazz secretly wondered how Leon had gotten his.

"Yeah, I feel a lot better now." Though it pained her to even look at them, she brought her arms up. How badly scarred were they now? She had taken a massive beating before, was she still bleeding?

They weren't. In fact, there was nothing left there to indicate that she had practically skinned them against the floor outside except for a few smudges of blood and some residual dust. She looked over at the glass container right by her bed and pointed. "Is that…"

"Yeah," Yuffie said. "Ethers and potions are really good at healing stuff. You don't have them where you live?"

Nazz hadn't heard of either of those things before, except in video games, though she tried to keep her gaming habits to herself. She shook her head to answer the girl's question.

There was a short pause. The other two looked like they had something they wanted to say but stood quiet. If they wouldn't talk, she would.

"Where am I," she asked. "I mean, I know what this town is called, but where on_ Earth_ am I?"

"That's the problem." The man named Leon said as he leaned against a wall. "It's gonna be a long story. You're not on Earth. In fact, I doubt your world even exists as you know it anymore."

Nazz couldn't believe what she had just heard. Still, she wasn't about to argue that they were crazy. Within the past 24 hours, she had fought a lady who somehow called down lightning on her, and then ran into monsters that sprung from dark, shadowy portals. Clearly, everything wasn't as it seemed.

She listened as Leon and Yuffie explained to her exactly what had happened. Somehow, her world had been swallowed by darkness. Yuffie explained to her that that had happened to countless worlds already. Earth wasn't the first and it definitely wasn't going to be the last. They explained to her that, sometimes, ordinary people who resided on the worlds when they were engulfed would sometimes be transported to other worlds. They told her they weren't sure why it happened, but she didn't question it. She only hoped her father and the rest of the neighborhood made it out alright.

But then Leon explained to her that most people weren't transported elsewhere, and that she was incredibly lucky she wasn't swallowed.

Yuffie handed her a napkin, almost as if she could tell what Nazz wanted to do. Still, the girl wasn't going to break out in tears.

Leon and Yuffie remained silent, almost as if they knew Nazz needed a moment to let everything sink in. Her father was gone. So was Kevin, and Rolf and Sarah and Jimmy. Even the Eds. She bit her lip as a mixture of emotions swirled inside of her. She was incredibly sad that everyone, _everything_, she knew and loved was gone. She was angry that the woman from before probably caused all the mayhem. She was terrified that it would happen again. She gulped. No. It _wasn't_ going to happen again. She held back the flood of tears welling up in her eyes and turned to Leon, wordlessly cueing him to continue his explanation.

He went on to tell her about the monsters she ran into earlier. They were called Heartless, monsters that came from the darkness in people's hearts. Leon told her that they also feasted on hearts as well, and that it was their fault that her world had disappeared. Worlds themselves had hearts, and if the Heartless got to them, they would disappear.

Still, that left a single question burning through her skull. What if the Heartless managed to devour Traverse Town. Would she be lucky enough to survive?

She balled her fist. She wanted to make sure that didn't happen. She wasn't strong enough to beat that woman back at Peach Creek, and that infuriated her. "What can I do to help?" She pulled the covers off her body and finally moved her legs so she could sit upright on the bed.

Leon smiled. "That's what I wanted to hear."

"We're part of the Traverse Town Protection Agency," Yuffie cheerfully said. "Our job is to make sure everyone here is safe."

"So… do we just beat up Heartless," Nazz asked.

"Yeah, and we do other stuff too. Think of us as an exclusive…" She held out the last syllable of the word, seemingly thinking of something to describe the group as. "A _Guild_, that's pretty much exactly what we're like. We take jobs in exchange for money."

"Meanwhile, we try to find ways to get rid of the heartless." He stood back up. "Are you in?"

"Of course!"

"Alright." Leon picked his sword back up and attached it to a sheath on his belt. "I think it's time you meet the rest of the crew then.

Nazz dizzily landed on her feet. Her wounds were fully healed, but it seemed like she had hit her head harder than she thought. She followed Leon and Yuffie to the next room, where she heard a hoard of voices chattering.

"Guys," Yuffie shouted as she kicked the door open. "Meet our newest member!"

Nazz finally got a view of all the people in the room. Sitting by a desk in the center were three people. One of them wore a pink, sleeveless dress held up by two slightly darker straps. She had long, auburn hair that was tied up by a ribbon similar in color to her dress. She seemed nice, Nazz thought.

Next to her was a woman of similar age. She had long black hair that went all the way down to her waist. Nazz liked her too, that woman seemed like she'd be a cool big sister.

Next to them was the only man on the table. He didn't make eye contact with Nazz, instead, he passively waved at her while furiously typing into his computer. An ashtray nearby was filled to the brim with cigarette butts, though it didn't seem to stop the man from flicking a burnt out cigarette stub on top of the pile.

In back was a darker skinned girl. She too had long black hair, though it seemed to be longer than the woman at the table. Her hair was held back by a blue ribbon with a sparkling blue gem sewn into it. She laughed at something the boy next to her said.

Nazz's eyes shot open.

The last boy was her age. She would've recognized the boy's yellow skin and green jacket anywhere. Wordlessly, Nazz stared. He was sitting on top of a shelf, his legs dangling by it whimsically. It seemed he hadn't noticed her.

It was Ed.


	4. One Plus One

**Author's**** Note:**_Geez, sorry for the late update. I really meant to upload the chapter yesterday, in fact, I had it finished. I was just exhausted after my Chemistry lab. I was GOING to upload it earlier today too, but the website was mucking up on me. That said, that contest mentioned last chapter is still active. Nobody's entered yet, heh..._

* * *

**Chapter 4: One Plus One**

(Two weeks ago)

Ed's oversized sledgehammer smashed the nearby Shadow Heartless to bits the moment it made contact with it. The tall boy made another swift swing, knocking the head off of a Soldier Heartless, instantly killing it.

"Not bad," Leon said as he slowly clapped his hands. "I didn't think a giant hammer would be a good weapon but…" he stared at Ed's weapon. The boy held the solid steel handle of the weapon in both hands with seemingly little effort. He wasn't sure how, but the thirteen-year-old was probably physically stronger than he was. Leon was sure he wouldn't be able to wield that weapon _that_ easily, that was for sure.

A few more Heartless popped up behind Ed, who swung his weapon again. Ed's strikes were slow, and the boy had trouble controlling his attacks, Leon noted, but the strikes that did connect were, oftentimes, more than enough to one-shot an enemy.

Ed was knocked back as a Large Body Heartless slammed into him. The boy had taken damage, but not much. Yeah, Ed was definitely sturdier that him too. Leon realized that, had an attack like that hit him, he would've been gasping for air. Ed kept charging. An upward blow from his hammer connected to the Large Body's torso, sending the thing flying up before it exploded into a puff of dark energy.

Leon couldn't help but let out a smirk. If new recruits like Ed kept showing up, the Traverse Town Protection Agency would be set. The citizens of the town would never have to worry about the Heartless ever again if his team kept eliminating them.

"Okay," Leon broke out of his thoughts as Ed walked towards him. "There's been a complaint about Heartless in the Fourth District too. You think you can handle them?"

Ed simply nodded and immediately charged down the street. Leon sighed, but followed him anyway. Ed was going the wrong way.

(Bzzzzt)

Ed really liked his new friends. He was scared when he first woke up there in the dumpster a week ago, but Leon found him just when he was waking up. Ed thought Leon was mean at first. When they first locked eyes that rainy night, Ed was scared. He was used to seeing fierce eyes before, from his sister, but there was something different about the man. They weren't just fierce, they were tired, and it felt like Leon was looking right through himthe first time they met. Now he was like one of Ed's old friends. He even regularly bought him soda after every one of his completed missions.

Ed didn't really understand anything about the Heartless, even after Leon and Yuffie explained them to him, he was just happy he could help fight. It was like something out of one of his comic books.

"Guys, guys!" Ed practically threw the door off its hinges as he ran inside the crew's house. "Look what I found!" In his hands was a large chunk of some glowing material. Leon let out a very noticeable 'Oh' while Yuffie's eyes lit up. Her eyes were just like Eddy's, Ed thought.

"You know what that is," Yuffie asked. "That's an Orchalicum Ore. Where'd you get that?"

"Um…" Ed had to stop for a minute. He wanted to tell the story, but he wanted to make it exciting for the others too. He loved sharing a cool story with people. "Uh… Tifa and I ran into a _big_ dragon heartless thing, and it was like 'rawr' and I was like 'ah!' when it hit me with its tail." He physically threw himself across the room, to show the everyone how he was attacked, earning a few chuckles from the others. "And then I was like 'smash' and Tifa was like 'boom' and the thing _exploded_ and it left this thing behind."

"Tifa," Leon asked as the long haired woman walked through. "Is that really what happened?"

"Yeah," she said with a nod, readjusting her loose-fitting tanktop and straightening her rumpled skirt. "Ed's pretty strong. I'm surprised he didn't get knocked out back there." She gave Ed a hearty pat on the head as she sat down. "I'm surprised a monster like that dropped a thing so pretty though."

Ed really liked Tifa too. She was calm, and she listened to everything he said. She even managed to carry on huge discussions with him on his favorite movies and tv shows. Back home, Ed always felt a little lonely. Sometimes, it felt like Double D and Eddy barely listened to him, and neither of them shared most of his interests.

"Eh," said a voice in the corner of the room. Ed looked at Cid, the blonde, middle-aged man who was currently busy typing away at a computer. He was always doing that. "Throw it out. There ain't a smith in the town that could do anything with that for ya." He flicked a cigarette into his ash tray, and proceeded to pull out another one from his carton. Ed couldn't help but compare Cid to his own dad. There would be days where his father would come home from work only to sit on the couch in the living room and smoke a cigar, much to his mother's chagrin. Still, Ed couldn't keep himself from liking Cid, too.

Ed's favorite member of the bunch, however, was Jasmine. He remembered the first day they met. It was the same day he found himself lying face down in the dumpster. Jasmine was with Leon when they dug him out. He was scared at first. He wanted to see Eddy, and Double D and his baby sister. He always started to mentally ramble when he got nervous, and that was one of the first things he did when he woke up. He knew he was far away from home and when he thought about _how_ far away from home he was his brain started hurting and he started worrying that Sarah would tell his mother and then his mother would tell his father and then he'd get punished and then…

"Are you okay?"

Those were Jasmine's first words to him. The first words he heard in the new world.

Ed remembered that he silently nodded, then wiped his hand on his jacket as he climbed out of the dumpster. He kicked a stray banana peel off his foot and shook Jasmine's hand. He was nervous, and it showed. Jasmine hugged him, but it wasn't a regular hug. It might've been the warmest, fuzziest, most tender hugs he had ever received. He felt better then.

Later on, Leon told him about the Traverse Town Protection Agency. He was scared, at first. He liked to say otherwise, but the thought of actual monsters actually existing and killing people terrified him. What if those monsters attacked his best friends or his sister or his mom and dad? He almost instantly agreed to join the group, and everyone celebrated. Leon announced that, next morning, the training to become a member began.

He couldn't sleep that night. He wasn't uncomfortable, or anxious. He was excited and scared with a whole other group of emotions mixed in. He was going to help save the world by destroying the things that wanted to hurt everyone. Now he was living in one of his fantasies.

Almost automatically, he stepped out of his bed and headed to the back room, where the ladder was. He climbed, noticing that the hatch leading to the top was already open. He pulled himself up onto the gritty tiled roof to see none other than Jasmine sitting against the chimney with a blanket around her, looking at the stars.

"Ed, shouldn't you get to bed," she asked?

He propped himself next to her and nodded his head. "The sky looks really pretty," he said.

"Yes," Jasmine said with a sigh. "My home's up there, somewhere."

Ed looked at the girl, bug-eyed. "Really?" His eyes darted back to the sky. Now he was amazed. Every star had a world, and on each world, there were ordinary people, like him, and his friends, and Jasmine. How he wished he could find out which star Peach Creek was on. "Which star do you live on," he asked. He pointed his finger in a random direction. "Is it that one, or that one, or _that _one?"

Jasmine chuckled, which made Ed grin. "Actually, I don't know. It's not too far away though."

"That's _so _cool!" Ed jumped back up and climbed on top of the chimney, forcing Jasmine to have to crane her neck to see him. "So you can see your family whenever you want?"

Jasmine's silence answered the question for him.

"I can't go back. Not yet."

"Why not?"

"I'm looking for something."

"What," Ed asked as he jumped back down from his perch.

"It's called Kingdom Hearts. According to legend, it's a vast, endless repository or knowledge and power. There's an evil man on my world, named Jafar. Right now, I'm powerless against him, but if I manage to reach Kingdom Hearts I'll have the power to defeat him, even if it costs me my life."

Ed noticed something as she said that. He squinted his eyes and he inched towards her face. He tried his best to focus, though he didn't know on what.

Jasmine attempted to push him away. "What are you…"

"You _don't_ want to die though, right?"

Jasmine looked visibly shocked and angry. "Of course I don't," she spat out. "But if I have to die in order to defeat Jafar, I will."

"But, why should you do something that you don't want to?"

"Because it's my duty," she quickly answered back.

Ed thought back to all the times Sarah had given him huge, seemingly endless lists of things she wanted him to do. Sure, he didn't want to do them either, and sure, he felt like it was his duty as an older brother to follow them, he still wanted, on some level, to make his sister happy. And that was why he did it, because he practically lived to see the people around him smile. Sure, the times when he could actually bond with his sister were too few and far between, but he cherished those moments.

Ed felt around in his jacket for a little plastic pencil topper of a cartoon hamster. Sarah had given it to him after her first day of Kindergarten because he had held her hand as they walked back home. It was one of the first gifts his baby sister had ever given to him, and he always carried it. Sometimes, when his sister would beat him and his friends to a pulp, he'd grasp onto the charm as he was getting battered, just to remember the good times. To him, it was a priceless gem that not even a billion jawbreakers could buy.

"I want you to have this," he said as he slipped the pencil topper into Jasmine's hands.

She seemed confused at first, examining the little rubber toy. "What is this?"

"It's my baby sister's," he answered. Jasmine got the clue and grasped the toy a bit tighter. "But you have to promise that you won't die or get yourself hurt on purpose, okay? After we get stronger, we'll beat up that bad guy together!"

Jasmine smiled, but Ed could tell that she was faking it, for his own good.

**(Two Weeks Later)**

"Ed," Jasmine said as she nudged him and simultaneously pointed towards the door. "Do you know her?"

Ed turned his head to look at the new figure. His eyes practically popped out when he made eye contact with the blonde. It was Nazz.

Wordlessly, they stared at each other. It was possible that a full 30 seconds passed before someone spoke. It was Leon.

"I… think you two need some alone time to talk. Why don't you guys go outside?"

Ed and Nazz both headed out the door, into the street.

"And Ed," Leon's voice shouted. "If you run into any Heartless, make sure you run and protect Nazz. She isn't in any condition to fight."

"Okay."

He shut the front door, and the two proceeded to walk.

Ed was excited that one of his friends from Peach Creek showed up. He was happy that Nazz was safe. But he didn't have anything to say. Maybe he'd try saying the same things he said to Jasmine. "The sky looks really pretty here. Where do you think our home is… oh," he realized his mistake. If what Leon had said was true, then Peach Creek and everyone they had ever known was gone.

Nazz looked up, silently. "Yeah…" she said with a sigh.

Ed wasn't sure what to do now. He was never good at talking to girls his age. His mind flipped through all the comics he had read before. Uh… sometimes, when the male character wanted to become friends with a female character, he'd take her somewhere, or buy her something to eat. His hands fumbled around in his jacket pocket, looking for any of the money he had earned from the jobs he had. Leon explained to him that most worlds accepted a form of currency called "munny." They weren't coins or paper bills like the money on his world, these were small spherical balls colored gold and purple. It was weird, Ed thought, but he didn't question it.

He managed to pull out 20 munny worth of spheres. That was weird, he thought he had more. Maybe it fell out of that hole in his jacket he never bothered to fix. At least he had enough money for two small cups of soda. He led Nazz to the store in the Second District and handed her the drink. They sat both sat down on a bench and silently drank. Ten minutes went by. Neither of them spoke.

(slurp)

It was almost funny, Nazz thought. Earlier, it had bothered her that she never had a chance to really become friends with the Eds. She thought they were dead, and, at that point, she was plagued with guilt that she had always ignored them. And now one of them was right there. He was alive and she couldn't even start a conversation. The situation was ridiculous. Their world had been destroyed, and they had been fighting magic monsters and they_ still_ couldn't speak to each other.

"How… how long have you been here," she choked out. Good, she was able to say something.

Ed counted on his fingers. "Um… about two weeks, I think."

"I just got here."

"Really? How?"

"I don't know how that whole darkness thing works either," she replied.

She knew she certainly hadn't been wandering around the town for two weeks. Maybe going through the darkness meant forfeiting time, or maybe it dumped people in different points in time. She wasn't good at that wibbly wobbly time stuff. It sure would've been nice to have Double D around to explain everything, though she was sure she wouldn't be able to hold a conversation with him, either.

"Thank you for the soda." She stood up and tried her best to smile, though she was faking it. Maybe she was just on a completely different wavelength from the Eds. Maybe that was why she couldn't talk to them. Maybe she'd never really become friends with any of them. "I sure am tired," she faked a yawn. "I think it's time I head to bed."

With that, they headed back to the team's headquarters. They didn't speak or make eye contact on the way back.

Nazz was anxious about what the next day would bring, but more than that, she was sorry that she kept herself from becoming friends with Ed, even when she had the opportunity.


	5. First Day, Third Month, Unknown Year

**Chapter 5: The First Day/The Third Month/The Unknown Year**

Her first day as an official trainee was much less hectic than she thought. She woke up at 10 A.M. to find Yuffie still asleep in her bed, tiredly muttering something.

Nazz slid out of her bed, slipped on her shoes and went to work brushing her teeth.

She expected to be woken up at, like, 6 A.M. or something. Wasn't training for combat oriented groups supposed to be harsh? Leon's group was like a small army, or something, so she figured the training would be at least somewhat outrageous and difficult. Her heart skipped a beat the moment she thought about _why _they hadn't woken her up.

Maybe the first test was to show that she was responsible enough to get up at sunrise on her own. She hit herself. If she had thrown away the one chance she would get at helping the town, she would probably break down. She jumped back into her room, through on her usual ensemble of clothes and rushed downstairs as fast as she could. Maybe, if she hurried, Leon would forgive her and let her have another chance at joining the group.

She was stunned as she dashed past the kitchen.

The entire crew, minus Yuffie, was sitting down, eating breakfast. Leon was sitting with his feet propped up against the table as he casually flipped through a newspaper and sipped a mug of coffee. A second passed before he looked up at Nazz and said, "Oh, I didn't think you'd get up so early, considering last night and all."

"I'm sorry!" Nazz bowed, a sign of respect she learned from her karate class. "Please, give me another chance. I didn't know I was supposed to wake up earlier!"

Everyone stared at her in confusion.

Leon blinked, though he seemed to realize that Nazz had misunderstood something. "We're not an army," he said before taking another sip of his coffee. "We're just a group that does stuff for the town. Relax, none of us here are crazy about getting up at the crack of dawn, or anything."

Nazz let out a nervous laugh as she sat down on the chair opposite Leon. Tifa, the long-haired woman she had met last night, handed her a plate loaded with everything that could possibly be served for breakfast. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, waffles, sausages. There was even a weird green plant delicately placed on top of all the food. Nazz curiously nibbled at the plant and let out a very vocal "Wow! What is this?"

"Gyashal Greens," Tifa said with a laugh. "It's supposed to be a decoration for the plate though; I didn't think you'd actually eat it."

"That says a lot about you," Cid said from the corner of the room. He was typing on his computer again. Nazz wondered if she'd ever see him away from it. "That's bird food, ya'know."

Tifa sent him a glare, and Nazz pushed the green leafy thing off to the side to get to work on the rest of the plate. Her first bite instantly reminded her of home. He father always made sure he made a full meal like that for her at least once a week.

"Thank you," was all Nazz said before digging in.

Tifa smiled and went back to work washing the dishes.

A familiar voice could be heard from somewhere inside the house. It was Ed. His voice gradually got louder as he walked. Nazz lamented the fact that she would have to make eye contact with him. "And then we built and elevator to the moon, and then we actually _got_ there!"

There was another person walking with him, apparently. She replied, "_Really_? You actually got there without a ship?"

"Yeah,"

Ed walked in, picking a seat next to Nazz and smiling. Jasmine was next, sitting next to him.

Ed flashed Nazz a smile, which made her feel a little better. She was worried that she had been too rude to him. It was nice to know that he wasn't mad. Still, she couldn't find anything to say to him except "Hey."

Nazz looked at Leon just in time to see him raise an eyebrow in her direction. He probably expected her to act chummier to the boy, considering the fact that they were from the same planet, and all. It was true, Nazz mentally agreed, but there was no way he'd understand. Even if they came from the same world, Ed and her couldn't have been more different. Nazz had accepted the fact that it was her fault that they couldn't hold a friendship. If she could just find it in herself to actually relate to the kid on a personal level, she was sure they'd be as close as she was with Kevin. But the thing was, they practically had nothing in common. What kind of conversation could she hold with the boy other than 'Oh, did you see that monster out there today? Yeah, it was tough!' But still, she wanted some of the attention off of her.

"Uh," she wanted to say something, _anything_, just so Leon would stop looking at her like that. "I'm going to have some missions today, right?"

"Yeah, I figured you could team up with Aerith today. It'll be an easy one, but she'll be there just to make sure nothing happens to you."

Nazz hadn't been acquainted with Aerith yet. Was she the one with the brown hair and the pink dress? Leon nodded. "She doesn't seem like a fighter though. Are you sure?"

Leon blushed, seemingly in embarrassment, and turned to the side. He muttered something, and he chugged down the last of his drink. Nazz looked on, beckoning him to repeat what he said. "She's a monster," he said, almost a little louder. He was sweating now.

Nazz was a bit surprised. Sure, she hadn't formerly met, or even talked to, Aerith, but she definitely seemed like the frailest member of the group. Was she really strong enough to put Leon on edge? "Really?"

Tifa joined in, leaning her elbows on the table as she turned to Nazz. "A few weeks ago, Leon and Aerith had a sparring match, just for practice. Long story short, Aerith got a little too serious and Leon wound up getting completely charred from her magic. So yeah, you'll definitely be safe with her. There's not a thing in town that can get within 10 feet of her. She can teach you magic too, if you want," Tifa added. "But… _I_ tried to have her teach me…" Her eyes narrowed, and then she shivered. "I wasn't able to make it past the first day's training."

Yeah, Nazz didn't think she'd be any good at magic anyway.

"Anyway, do I, like, have to do any training or something?"

Leon let out a laugh. "You're pretty excited. I figured you wouldn't want to do anything after all the hits you took last night. Either way, I'm going for a run and a climb in a few minutes. You and Ed can come too, if you want."

Nazz was excited at the prospect of actually seeing the town. She was also nervous that Ed had to come too. Did Leon see that she was issues talking to the taller boy? Was it really that obvious? Those thoughts plagued her mind, even when she started her run and Leon gave her a brief tour of the town. She hadn't really been listening, but she managed to learn that the First District was kind of the center point of the town. The Second District was a huge shopping area with a huge bell tower. District Three was a stage-like area where performances were held. Districts Four though Ten were residential areas where most of the town's citizens lived.

After getting past one last row of buildings, Nazz found herself running through a large forest, not too different than the one outside her home. She never imagined such a huge town would have a vast, untouched forest so close.

"This is District 11," Leon said, mid-run. "But everyone just calls it Traverse Park." He pointed to a huge rocky mountain just over the tree line. "We're stopping there," he said. He sped up, somehow expecting Nass, whose limbs already felt like jelly, and Ed, who was practically falling from exhaustion, to keep up. Somehow, they did.

Nazz couldn't help but instantly fall backwards on the soft grass the moment they reached the goal. Ed practically fell asleep. Leon, however, looked fine, as if the marathon hadn't fazed him at all.

"Alright, you guys ready?" His hand grasped a protruding rock from the surface and pulled himself up. He repeated the feat with his other hand as he slowly climbed up the vertical surface of the mountain. "You guys coming," he asked from halfway up.

Geez, he made it seem so easy. Nazz toyed with the idea that she was some kind of weird mountain goat-human hybrid.

Nevertheless, Nazz tried to make her way up as well, though she only managed to make it about ten feet off the ground before she found herself tumbling back to the bottom. Climbing was harder than she thought. She looked at her hands, which were red with pain. _That_ wasn't going to stop her. She looked at Ed, who was still on the ground. He was too tired to even lift himself back up.

Nazz balled her fists again, and went right back up. This time, she went just a little higher before falling back down. She was stubborn though and tried again. Ten feet. Again. Thirteen feet. Again. Eight feet. Again. Five feet. Again. One foot. She fell again. One more time. She attempted to grab hold of a protruding part of the surface again, but she just didn't have the strength to grip it as hard as she needed to. Her forearms were killing her, as was the rest of her body. Her hands were bleeding too, she realized. Leon must've had to train for years to learn how to climb up the mountain like he did.

"What's wrong," the man said, climbing back down without a sweat. "You guys couldn't make it?"

All that Nazz and Ed could mutter out was a combined "Ugh."

Leon laughed. "I'll give you guys a deal. If you guys make that same run _and_ if you can make it up to the top before the month's over, I'll tell you a story about when I was a kid, and how I got _this_." He pointed to the scar on his face.

The idea of the story intrigued Nazz, but she wasn't sure if it was worth it.

"But I'm tired, and it's haaaaaaaaard," Ed moaned out. Nazz nodded. Those were pretty much her exact sentiments.

"Well, I never said you _had_ to listen to my story," he said with another laugh.

* * *

...nothing...

* * *

It felt like he hadn't felt his arms and legs since forever ago. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't blink. He had just been floating.

He lost all track of time. He wasn't sure if it had just been days, weeks, or years. All he knew was that he had lost all track of time…

He… sure… just been… or years… he knew… lost all track of time.

He… s… b… o… ars… ne… all… time.

It was cold. Almost unbelievable cold. He was also terrified. It felt like his heart had imploded.

More than anything, he just wanted to die…

* * *

...nothing...

* * *

"Alright, another successful day, I'd say." Edd couldn't hide the grin on his face as he walked back into the tent carrying a huge book of notes. It had been three whole months, and he still didn't know how he found himself in the jungle or where his friends had gone. "Ms. Porter, if you would excuse me," he said to the slim, brown haired woman behind him, "I'm going to go for a hike. Would you mind double checking that all the equipment is packed away safely, for me?"

"Of course," she said with her familiar sweet voice. "And please, we're more than acquaintances now. Call me Jane."

He thanked the woman, grabbed his bow and arrows (for protection, he assured her), and went outside. Yes, he found researching gorillas and that strange feral man who was raised by them incredibly interesting, and he knew that what he was doing was potentially groundbreaking for the scientific community. There was something else that interested him more than anything though. He made his way through the thicket of bamboo as he made his way to his hiding spot. He heard a sudden rustle to his left.

Out of habit, he pulled back the string of his bow and fitted the arrow's groove right on the string. There were monsters here, and experience proved to him, time and again, that they would attack him if he didn't get rid of them first.

He crept through the foliage and eyed his target. This one looked like a monkey, and jumped around like one too, but it wasn't. It had bright, round yellow eyes and a pitch black face. It had a black and red, heart-shaped crest on its chest too. Edd wasn't sure what it was, exactly, but it definitely wasn't a naturally occurring species of animal. He pulled back the string on his arrow even further back.

He didn't like using weapons at first, especially to kill living things. He paid for that viewpoint on his first week. He got mauled by one of the monsters and would've been killed if Tarzan, the man raised by gorillas he had been studying, hadn't saved him. Edd made a resolve to defend himself from that point onward. He managed to manufacture a bow and a dozen arrows from the trees surrounding the campsite. It was difficult at first, he remembered. He didn't even have the strength to pull back the string at the beginning. Even after he managed to get the arm strength, there was the issue of learning how to aim. It took 2 months to learn how to hit a stationary target 50% of the time. One month later, he still wasn't entirely accurate when it came to hitting actual moving things.

The monkey monster's movements were erratic, which meant he wouldn't be able to accurately predict where it would move. If he missed, the monster would surely discover where he was, and attack. He wasn't going to let that happen. He took a breath, pulled the string and…

The monster jumped away at the last second. It picked up the arrow, which was lodged in the bark of a tree, and examined it, before looking back.

Drats.

The thing charged towards him. Edd barely had time to fit his next arrow in. When it was just 7 or 8 feet away, it lunged at him. If he couldn't take the thing out now, it'd maul him to death. Edd let go of the string again. This time, it went right through the creature's head, instantly killing it.

That was the other weird thing about those monsters. When they died, they automatically blew up into smoke. Like he thought, whatever those things were, they weren't natural.

He picked up the two arrows he used earlier and packed them, neatly, back into his quiver. His hiding spot wasn't too far away now. As he was walking, something caught his eye. It was a red and yellow spotted block nestled away between some fallen branches. Edd smiled. It was another one of those things. He picked it up, to add to his collection.

He made his way to a large tree. There was a hole right under the tree, making a sort of makeshift cove. That was where he kept those strange blocks he had found.

They were weird, he thought. They came in all sorts of colors. They were also incredibly sturdy, tough, and light, he found. His favorite trait of them, however, was their ability to instantly bond to another of the other blocks if they touched. He was still testing them, but he figured he wasn't terribly far from actually building a rocket ship with them. There was even an exhaust pipe-shaped block that emitted a steady stream of fire without the help of any kind of fuel.

He knew he wasn't on Earth. That much had been clear that first night he looked at the sky. There wasn't a familiar constellation anywhere.

One thing that bugged him was that, every night, it seemed like there had been less and less stars. Since his arrival, he figured no less than 40 or 50 of the dark sky's lights had disappeared. Soon, he'd be going up there to find out _why_ that was happening.

He just needed a little more time.

* * *

(***)

"Well, here you are." Leon stopped in front of a large steel gate. Behind it was a huge mansion, though it didn't seem very well kept. The weeds on the lawn were probably bigger than Eddy. "Ed," Leon said. "Why don't you help Nazz, just in case."

Nazz swallowed when Ed agreed. Nazz really didn't want to have to face that terrible awkwardness around the boy. Not again.

"Your first mission is easy," Leon reassured Nazz, who felt positively terrified about her task. "We have a man here, he's a researcher. Basically, he wants to accompany you all so he can observe some of the Heartless in action. He says you can keep any of the stones they drop too." He looked to his left, then his right, almost worriedly. "Where's Aerith? I thought she'd be here by now."

"Sorry, sorry," came Aerith's voice from behind. She practically dashed to their position before putting her hands on her knees in exhaustion. "I must've lost track of time. I felt bad that Tifa made breakfast for everyone, so I surprised everyone with lunch. Time flies bye when you're having fun," she laughed out.

Nazz couldn't describe how pale Leon's face had gotten.

"What's wrong," she whispered.

"I should probably hurry back. I just hope everyone didn't get food poisoning. Again," he replied with an equally hushed tone. "Anyway," he said, returning to his normal speaking voice. "Aerith, you know what to do. Don't do anything unless a big one appears or if those two have trouble. I doubt they'll need help against the small fry though."

That must've been a compliment. Both Nazz and Ed smiled, cheekily.

Leon waved to a figure stepping out of the mansion and made his way back to the group's house as fast as he could. Before Nazz could blink, he was out of sight.

"You've been getting new members rather frequently," the man said to Aerith as he unlocked the gate. "Is this one up to Leon's standards too? I doubt it." He looked at Nazz with a sly smile.

The man had long blonde hair that went to a little below his shoulders. Nazz almost felt creeped out by the man, who very noticeably scanned her with his bright green eyes.

"Oh, where are my manners?" He chuckled before bringing out his hand to meet Nazz, brushing his worn, lab coat with his other hand. "I'm pleased to meet you. My name is Vexen."

* * *

**Author's Note:** _I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, but I'm going to have to tell you some bad news. Devastating, really. I won't be updating next week. Officially, I'm going to say that it's because I wanna do stuff for school and with my friends (Yeah, I'm surprised I have those too _), but it's really because I just got Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5, and I reaaaaaaallllllllyyyy wanna spend some of my me time playing the hell out of it. So, review, if you could._


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